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Home reno models a greener, less toxic way to build

Leslieville home one of numerous tour sites for this year’s Green Energy Doors Open event.

Christopher Phillips, president of Greening Homes, stands in a Leslieville home that served as a showcase for technologies for building a greener, less toxic home - part of a province-wide event called Green Energy Doors Open. (BERNARD WEIL / TORONTO STAR) | Order this photo

The brick three-storey house on Bertmount Ave. in Leslieville doesn't look that different from its neighbours.

But after a "disastrous" first renovation, the homeowners had to rebuild the 1920s, semi-detached brick house. And this time they went healthy and green, in ways that made it a model home for this weekend’s Green Energy Doors Open ’16, an event organized by the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association that promotes environmentally friendly construction.

A product made of recycled jeans forms a sound barrier in ceilings; outside walls are insulated with recycled newsprint; and much of the lumber used came from sustainable forests.

To make the house toxin-free — one of the owners is sensitive to allergens — renovaters swapped out typical building materials for safer ones, using non-toxic adhesives to glue floorboards to joists and installing radiant-heating in floors in place of forced-air gas, to cut down on airborne pollutants.

The home's environmentally friendly features were on display Saturday, along with a variety of other buildings and organizations that offered free tours and events.

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"The cost of (a green) renovation was not much different than a typical renovation," says Bryan Kaplan, project manager for Greening Homes, which was called in after a painter with the first crew told the family that some of the work, including electrical, was not up to code.

Greening Homes hosted an open house at 51 Bertmount Ave., which is undergoing a second renovation more suited to occupants with a high level of sensitivity to chemicals and allergens. (Bernard Weil)

Major structural work was also done without a permit, said Christopher Phillips, who founded Greening Homes 10 years ago after he retrained, trading in a career in foreign aid and humanitarian ethics for completing a master’s degree in building science.

Of course, two renovations on one house — as was the case with the Bertmount St. house, which had to be gutted again back down to the brick — don't come cheap.

"The owners bought it and found there were mould and asbestos issues and they had to do some expensive abatement," Phillips said. "Their original contractor misled them and did a lot of damage to the home," he claimed.

The contractor also used materials such as spray-foam insulation that were "inappropriate for the homeowner," Phillips said.

"They were really victims here."

The blended family of six, including a toddler, is still waiting to move into the home purchased in 2014.

What was used

The reno includes a number of cost-effective methods to save energy and build a greener home.

Non-toxic adhesives: Used to bond the plywood subfloor to the joists. The heavy-duty adhesives will cost about $400 more.

Insulating foam tape: Spray-foam insulation around windows and doors was replaced with an insulating tape that expands from 3/8 of an inch to 5/8. Spray foam is typically safe, but there have been concerns about the chemicals used to make it. The foam tape is more expensive but faster to install. The tape is about 50 to 60 per cent more expensive than foam.

Concrete: The concrete used was 40 per cent slag, a byproduct of the mining industry. The slag replaced Portland cement as a binder for the sand and aggregate.

Drywall: The type of drywall used is supposed to capture airborne and residual organic chemicals, such as formaldehyde gas, which is used in many building materials.

Windows: The double-glazed windows have insulated fibreglass frames, which means the seals are more durable and the windows last longer. Phillips says his company “generally stays clear of vinyl windows due to their extremely toxic manufacturing process.”

Heating: The home is warmed by a combination of radiant heat and stainless steel radiators. A number of ductless air conditioning units are used for cooling and can be turned on or off as needed.

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